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Hoop dreams are high for the Seattle Storm

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Hoop dreams are high for the Seattle Storm


Hoop dreams are high for the WNBA season, following NCAA women’s playoff games that garnered record attention. Hoping to capitalize on the momentum: the Seattle Storm.

KIRO Newsradio spoke with several key members of Seattle’s professional women’s basketball team at the team’s new 50,000 square-foot practice facility and headquarters in Interbay, where photos of Storm legend — and newly minted member of the ownership team — Sue Bird, loom large.

New to the team is Nika Muhl.

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“I love Seattle,” Mulh said.

The native of Croatia is coming off an exciting NCAA women’s basketball season with the University of Connecticut Huskies. She was the Storm’s first draft pick this season.

“These women that I’m surrounded with are legends,” Muhl said, looking at the Storm’s practice court. “They’re amazing. They’re just inspiring to me, personally.”

Commonalities between Nika Muhl and legend Sue Bird

There are bound to be some comparisons between Muhl and Bird. Both are point guards. While the Storm retired Sue Bird’s #10 jersey number, Muhl wore #10 in college.

But Muhl said that doesn’t necessarily add to the pressure of her rookie year.

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“It’s more like a humbling thing,” she said.

“All these little similarities that we have. It’s definitely a cool thing,” she added, gesturing to a photo of Bird. “It’s just a constant reminder of how hard I have to work.”

More on the team: Storm announce the return of Sue Bird 

For Muhl and others who are new to the team, there are plenty of established “greats” on the court to learn from.

“Amazing players,” said Muhl. “I’m just trying to learn from them as much as I can, you know, take everything in and be a sponge.”

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One of those veterans is Jewell Loyd. The point and shooting guard was drafted by the Storm in 2015.

“We’ve been building this season and I’ve been here the longest. I’m definitely a veteran on this team, so my job is to come in and do my job and lead when I need to lead and have fun,” Loyd said.

When asked how she helps new players adjust to the team, Loyd was matter of fact.

“At the end of the day it’s just basketball,” she said, indicating that every player is here because the team saw potential in them. “No added pressure. Just come in here. Learn. Be a sponge and do what you do.”

What will the Seattle Storm bring to this season?

As for what it’ll take to get this team into the playoffs, “I think people are still trying to figure that out. You know, every year it changes. We’ve obviously won championships here. We’ve had different dynamics with different teams, but every team has a different journey,” Loyd said.

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Storm Head Coach Noelle Quinn commented about her role in helping create a championship-caliber team

“A lot of things, come into play,” Quinn said. “Instilling confidence in our players is putting them in positions where they can be successful on the floor. It is coaching them and guiding them to play the way that I’ve envisioned them playing. It takes time.”

As this team works to find its winning rhythm, they are aware that perhaps more eyes — than ever — are on them, because of the surge in popularity of women’s basketball. But to them, it’s not daunting. In fact, it’s long overdue.

“Finally! No, it was not a surprise to me,” Muhl said. “We’ve got to give our flowers to all our vets and the people (who came) before us because, without them, women’s basketball wouldn’t have the opportunity to go even further.”

More sports: UW star basketball player is living her dream, looking toward the future

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Loyd shared the same sentiment.

“It’s about time,” Loyd said. “Women’s sports have been, obviously, growing and we’ve been asking for attention for a long time and now it’s here. Now it’s our job to produce and keep doing what we’re doing.”

Quinn agreed.

“I love that we are in a time that eyes are one women’s basketball. The time is now, the time is tomorrow — in the future as well,” Quinn said. “I’m proud to be a part of this movement.”

The WNBA Storm welcome the Indiana Fever — and Caitlin Clark — to Seattle on Wednesday, May 22.

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Seattle weather: A wet morning turning to showers, mild temperatures Thursday

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Seattle weather: A wet morning turning to showers, mild temperatures Thursday


Mostly cloudy skies and a few light showers moved back into Washington Wednesday, and steadier rainfall continues tonight. 

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Mostly cloudy skies and a few light showers moved back into Washington Wednesday, and steadier rainfall continues tonight. 

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Steady morning rain can be expected across the Puget Sound. Widespread showers will continue through midday, with more scattered showers by the evening. 

Rain Thursday

Steady morning rain can be expected across the Puget Sound. 

The heaviest rainfall Thursday will be around the north sound and along the coast. Showers will continue Thursday night into Friday with snow levels slowly dropping to a rain snow mix at the major mountain passes. 

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Rain Forecast

Heaviest rain Thursday will be around the north sound and along the coast. 

Showers and breezy wind at times will continue into the weekend. We will see mild temperatures through the weekend as well.

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Showers and breezy wind at times will continue into the weekend. 

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Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologist Claire Anderson and the National Weather Service.

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Winning Thoughts: Blue Jackets get a needed win in Seattle | Columbus Blue Jackets

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Winning Thoughts: Blue Jackets get a needed win in Seattle | Columbus Blue Jackets


After CBJ wins, we’ll give three takeaways about what stood out or what we’ll remember from the Blue Jackets’ victory.

BLUE JACKETS 2, KRAKEN 1 (SHOOTOUT)

1. The Blue Jackets got to celebrate a win … even if it took a second.

With the game on his stick, Charlie Coyle crossed the blue line and ripped a shot off the post and past Matt Murray to give the Blue Jackets two much-needed points Tuesday night.

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And with a four-game losing streak in their past, the Blue Jackets excitedly jumped off the bench to mob their shootout hero, right?

Not exactly.

After Coyle’s perfect shot got past Murray to secure the second point, neither the shooter nor his teammates went crazy. Coyle skated back to the bench with a square jaw, and the Blue Jackets on the bench took a second to look around before they streamed off to celebrate the victory.

So, what happened?

“I think guys kind of forgot that it was over,” Zach Werenski said. “They went first. I feel like guys kind of were just like, I know (Damon Severson) looked at me and was like, ‘It is over?’”

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Or maybe it was just, after three games in four days, while switching time zones twice, and also dealing with a flu bug going through the team, the Blue Jackets were just too tired to celebrate.

“I think it was a little bit of a grind for everyone with the sickness and the bug going around,” Mathieu Oliver said. “I think was it more kind of relief when we saw him go bar down there, which was unbelievable, but a lot of relief for our group.”

Whatever the reason was, Coyle’s goal didn’t set off a massive celebration, but it did clinch a crucial victory for the Blue Jackets to finish off a long road trip right but also put two points in the standings. The veteran went on to joke that he thought the delayed celebration was just because everyone was so stunned he scored on such a sweet finish, but he was more than happy to celebrate once everyone congregated by the CBJ bench.

“Maybe it was like a mutual thing because I didn’t really react fully, and then they didn’t react,” Coyle said. “And then Jet (Greaves) slowly kind of skated out so everyone kind of jumped, but that’s gonna be funny looking back. But that’s the long road trip, so it’s a sigh of relief, I think.”

2. Coyle’s goal clinched a huge victory marked by the Blue Jackets battling through adversity.

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Think of it this way. The Blue Jackets lost in one of the most stunning ways possible Monday night at Edmonton, then flew to Seattle for the second half of a back-to-back against a rested foe. Illness has been working its way through the team, and things got even worse for the Blue Jackets when captain Boone Jenner left early in the second period with injury.

Given all those factors combined, you probably wouldn’t have expected a CBJ win tonight, but the Blue Jackets delivered.

“I think it speaks a lot about our character,” Werenski said. “Obviously the road trip hasn’t gone our way and we’re obviously not happy about how some of the games have gone, but we just dug deep and found a way to win this one. We got three of four points in the last 24 hours, and I’m really proud of our group.”

And in some ways, maybe that adversity helped the Blue Jackets along the way.

“To do that with the guys who have been sick and out of the lineup, with the mid-game adjustments, I think it helps guys zone in more because you have to know who’s up,” Coyle said. “It’s not the regular lies and all that, so that definitely could help.

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“Hey, we came through, and that’s a sign of a good team.”

3. The Blue Jackets exercised patience on the way to the victory.

Seattle has one of the best defensive teams in the NHL and speed to burn, so their game plan has been relatively simple this season. The Kraken want teams to have to earn it, turning up the pressure and trying to force turnovers before going the other way.

But on a night where it would have been easy to fold up the tent, the Blue Jackets showed an enviable level of discipline. Instead of opening themselves up to mistakes in the middle of a taut game, Columbus stayed the course and did what it had to do on the defensive end to get it to overtime.

“What we liked, and we’ve talked about this a lot, is we were on the right side (of the puck),” head coach Dean Evason said. “We were on the Jackets side. We didn’t cheat the game tonight. We didn’t give them those freebies, the odd-man rushes, and the odd-man rushes, the ones that have hurt is here this year.”

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Cardinals Coach Gets Real on Blowout Loss to Seahawks

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Cardinals Coach Gets Real on Blowout Loss to Seahawks


ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals were, for perhaps the first time in Jonathan Gannon’s career, outmatched to epic proportions in their Week 10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Cardinals fans blinked, and they were down 7-0. They got up to get some snacks and came back to a 35-0 deficit that surely wasn’t going to be reversed.

“(We) didn’t play our best ball against a good team and got beat up pretty good, but they understand why that happened and what we need to do better moving forward,” Gannon told reporters this week.

“I did tell them we have to learn from it and then we have to flush it because just like any win or loss,(it) doesn’t matter how you get there. The most important thing is the next week, so that’s where our focus will be going to San Francisco here.”

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READ: Which Arizona Cardinals are on the Hot Seat?

Arizona has now lost their last six-of-seven games entering their Week 11 matchup with the 49ers, and the team will practically need to win-out in order to do the unthinkable and make the postseason.

As for their drubbing in Seattle, Gannon says digging that massive early deficit didn’t do the organization any favors.

“We had some assignment issues, some technique issues. We actually won the double positive, but when you spot a team 14 points on offense and they score the first three drives and you find yourself down 35 to nothing, that’s a tough hole to come out of,” he said.

“Games can get away pretty quick from you when that happens. What I do appreciate though, (is) they did battle, and we had a chance, honestly, in my opinion, at the end of the third to cut it to a two-score game. The effort was there, and they reset themselves, but no one feels good about how that game unfolded.”

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READ: Cardinals Not Sugarcoating Anything After Loss

It’s rare to see a Cardinals loss where they were truly outmatched over the course of 60 minutes, though that was the case at Lumen Field.

Is this the most frustrated Gannon’s been as a coach?

“When you say frustrated, I don’t know (if that’s) the right word. You learn and move on. That’s why I said no one in that team meeting today—nobody’s looking around (asking) how did that happen? We collectively allowed that to happen. All of us in there. You take that on a chin, and you move on. Frustration (is) just a waste of time,” said Gannon.



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